EXCLUSIVE: Boyzone hit the road again - with the echo of their lost pal Stephen Gately

FOURSOME: from left, Shane Lynch, Mikey Graham, Keith Duffy and Ronan Keating have been in pop for 20 years [HUMPHREY NEMAR]

You might not believe it but these lads have been in pop for an incredible 20 years – and they’re still going strong.

As we join the Irish four-piece ahead of their live dates, there’s no doubt they’re still best mates enjoying the craic.

Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, Mikey Graham and Keith Duffy kid around as they practise the chat they’ll deliver to the hundreds of thousands of fans who have bought tickets to their winter arena shows.

“We’re getting on like old schoolboys – having too much fun and not enough work,” laughs Keith, as they show nimble tribal dance moves at the end of The Going Gets Tough. But life for the band really did get tough back in 2009 when bandmate Steph­en Gately died suddenly from an undiagnosed heart condition.

It took two years for Boyzone to tour again, and they’ve been on a break since that wrapped.

Now they’re back in the Top 10 with album BZ20 after signing a four-album deal with Warner.

“By the end of the last tour we were emotionally drained and shattered,” says Keith. “We had to go away and find our feet. We’re friends and brothers and grateful that tickets have sold and people are coming to see us and the album is doing well.”

Ronan, 36, agrees: “We’ve stayed true to who we are but we’re not kids any more. It’s a new label and new A&R direction.

“We like to think if we never took a break this is the band Boyzone would have become.”

Video footage hits screens behind them talking about Stephen, but the band later tell me it’s too raw for them to watch personally.

BAND OF BROTHERS: The boys looking dapper on stage with their saucy dancers [HUMPHREY NEMAR]

“We’ve stayed true to who we are but we’re not kids any more. It’s a new label and new A&R direction”

Ronan Keating

As they sing Gave It All Away and Better, Steo’s image fills the background, and his voice on the choruses echoes around the arena.

Stephen’s parents attended Boyzone’s show in Dublin last week. “We have a picture of Stephen in the quick change area where his seat would be,” reveals Keith, 39. “And we have a little group chat with him before we go on stage.”

Mikey Graham, 41, adds: “Every tour we do from here on there will be messages of Stephen.”

Ronan leans over to show me a picture on his iPhone – a red butterfly is perched on his leg. “After Steo passed a lot of us had experiences with butterflies,” he explains. “When we got to Doncaster there were three butterflies in the rehearsal studio fluttering around and one landed on my leg.

“It was the freakiest thing. It’s like Steo was in the room, guiding us along and giving us strength.”

As dancers hold up hearts during the latest single Love Will Save The Day, the show ticks all the boxes of a brilliant night out for pop fans. But the band will leave the partying to the crowd.

SCHOOLBOY FUN: Ronan with Mikey say the band have remained true to who they are with the new label [HUMPHREY NEMAR]

“When we were young hangovers never got in our way,” says Keith with a wry grin. “Burning the candle at both ends isn’t going to work for us any more.” There might be the odd glass of wine post-show but you’re more likely to find the guys tuning into a bit of telly back in their hotel rooms.